Will Smith became a better father after Willow's cry for help: 'She shaved her head bald'

Hollywood could no longer ignore his daughter after she cut her hair during Whip My Hair tour.

US actor Will Smith (R) and his daughter Willow Smith pose before Chanel 2016-2017 fall/winter Haute Couture collection fashion show on July 5, 2016 in Paris.Getty

Will Smith has revealed that it took his daughter Willow shaving her head bald for him to realise he wasn't a good father.

The Hollywood actor's teenage daughter found fame in 2010 at the tender age of 11 with her monster hit Whip Your Hair. However, the gruelling demands of touring soon started to take their toll and she desperately longed to be a carefree child again.

Speaking candidly about the challenging chapter in their relationship in Jay-Z's new mini-documentary Footnotes Of Adnis, Smith admitted that although Willow had expressed that she was unhappy, he pressured her into continuing with her concert dates.

Recalling the turning point, he said: ''We came downstairs and she had shaved her head bald. She shaved her head bald in the middle of her 'Whip My Hair' tour. I was like, 'Oh, s**t,"

''I'm looking at that girl and I'm like, 'Got it. I understand. You will not have this trouble out of me ever again. Let's go, baby. We can go."

Smith, who has been a household name for nearly three decades, went on to reveal that his daughter's cry for help was the catalyst in changing his parenting style and restrained his inner 'pushy dad'.

''For me, it was that soldier that was pushing and wasn't paying any attention whatsoever to what was going on emotionally with this beautiful little creature in front of me," The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air star lamented as he joined Chris Rock, Bill Burr, Mahershala Ali, Lil Rel Howery and Jay-Z in a frank chat about lessons learnt as a father. "That was the first part of the collapsing of my father's suit that I was wearing that wasn't mine.''

The second act of Willow's rebellion came months later when she pulled out of the big-screen Annie reboot, starring Jamie Foxc and Cameron Diaz, because she wanted to "just be 12". By then, he was older and wiser.

"I'm really learning through Willow the necessity that we have to snap ourselves back and refocus on the emotional needs of the people that we love," he said at an appearance at Philly's Temple University in 2013. "Someone's emotional needs can be very, very different from your dreams and what you think they should be doing and where they are supposed to be.